from corporations."

"I do not propose to enter into an economics argument with you, Mr. Parr,
but if you tell me that the flagrant practices indulged in by those who
organized the Consolidated Tractions Company can be excused under any
code of morals, any conception of Christianity, I tell you they cannot.
What do we see today in your business world? Boards of directors,
trusted by stockholders, betraying their trust, withholding information
in order to profit thereby, buying and selling stock secretly; stock
watering, selling to the public diluted values,--all kinds of iniquity
and abuse of power which I need not go into. Do you mean to tell me, on
the plea that business is business and hence a department by itself, that
deception, cheating, and stealing are justified and necessary? The
awakened conscience of the public is condemning you.

"The time is at hand, though neither you nor I may live to see it, when
the public conscience itself is beginning to perceive thin higher justice
hidden from you. And you are attempting to mislead when you do not
distinguish between the men who, for their own gain and power, mismanage
such corporations as are mismanaged, and those who own stock and are
misled.

"The public conscience of which I speak is the leaven of Christianity at
work. And we must be content to work with it, to await its fulfilment,
to realize that no one of us can change the world, but can only do his
part in making it better. The least we can do is to refuse to indulge
in practices which jeopardize our own souls, to remain poor if we cannot
make wealth honestly. Say what you will, the Christian government we are
approaching will not recognize property, because it is gradually becoming
clear that the holding of property delays the Kingdom at which you scoff,